The Great Branding of Nations

The idea about nation branding emerged in the 1990s and is usually described as a marketing practice, growing out from the practice of place branding. The branding of the nations is clearly linked to the globalization narrative of the post-Cold War era.
Put it simply, the nation branding was seen as the next step in a social progression. The nationalism invented in the 19th century culminated at the of the 20th century in the horrible wars and the fragile balance at the verge of total nuclear annihilation; the neo-liberal hegemony of the new millennia was to replace warlike nationalism with a much more civilized free-market competition.
The history had ended. All legacy-ideologies, nationalism among others, were destined to surrender to superior ideas of liberal capitalism. It was an unavoidable consequence of progress that the flags were to be replaced with logos, hymns with slogans.

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The discussion that dwells from recent attempts to find the Estonian brand.